Stunning Pics of the Navy Salvaging a Sunken F/A-18

The Aviationist blog has found a great series of images of the U.S. Navy salvaging one of its own aircraft from the Arabian Sea.

On May 12, 2015 a F/A-18F Super Hornet from the USS Theodore Roosevelt crashed into the Arabian Gulf. The two crewmen ejected and were safely rescued. The Super Hornet and the Roosevelt had been participating in anti-Islamic State operations as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. According to reports at the time, the crash was "not a result of hostile activity." The Navy has apparently ruled out pilot error and settled on mechanical failure, because two months later USNS Catawba, a salvage ship, was hauling the Super Hornet out of the Arabian Sea to find out what went wrong.

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According to reports, the Super Hornet had just taken been catapulted from the Roosevelt when something prompted the crew to eject. A diver attached to the salvage operation stated that there was a problem on takeoff with one of the engines. The jet settled in 189 feet of water.

The U.S. Navy's picture feed of the salvage operation shows about about half of the plane missing, including the cockpit. The rear landing gear was also down. The Navy will be looking at the engines to determine what caused the accident and prevent ones like it in the future.